The modern circus was never the same after 1812; what had previously been concerned with horse tricks, musicians, and clowns started to include wild animals and began bringing elephants and other exotic creatures into its travelling shows.
In the 1800s circuses expanded their collections to include a wide variety of animals such as rattlesnakes and bears, leopards and lions. Even though the animals seemed to be under control when performing, they were still wild creatures able to react in an unpredictable way.
Elephants are commonly referred to as gentle giants, but after years of being confined and treated harshly they can react in a completely different way; an elephant named Tyke eventually gained international fame as a result of a number of ever more dangerous incidents.
Tyke was a female elephant from the African bush population and was born in Mozambique in 1973; in that year she was captured, transported to the United States and then sold to the Hawthorn Corporation, a company which provided exotic animals to circuses.
As stated in documents that were later made public, Tyke was for a large part of her life chained and put through tough training. It was found in 1988 that one of the trainers had beaten her so severely that she became afraid each time he came near.
Even though she was treated badly, Tyke eventually carried out a number of circus acts, such as throwing balls, catching batons, ringing bells, and riding a tricycle. She toured throughout the United States with the circus, but a number of incidents indicated that controlling her was becoming more and more difficult.
Tyke escaped while a performance was in progress in Altoona, Pennsylvania on April 21, 1993. As she tried to get out of the venue, she caused some damage, there being a reported number of thousand schoolchildren present. Although no injuries were recorded, a further disturbing incident concerning a circus trainer was reported the next day.
Three months later Tyke escaped once more at the North Dakota State Fair, staying at large for 23 minutes and injuring her trainer, Michael Pursley, in the incident.
On August 20, 1994, Tyke appeared at the Circus International in Honolulu, Hawaii. She had been scheduled to take part in the performance, but a serious problem occurred behind the scenes.
Several people saw a figure being thrown about by the elephant; this person was Tyke’s groomer, Dallas Beckwith. Initially, some of the spectators thought that the scene was part of the performance, but it became obvious soon afterwards when the trainer, Allen Campbell, came into the area.
Campbell tried to get in between them, but Tyke also attacked him. Finally the elephant, weighing 7,000 pounds, trampled him and this resulted in fatal injuries. Beckwith, on the other hand, survived the attack with a broken nose.
The audience started to leave at once as Tyke moved towards the exit of the arena; after she had got outside she ran through the streets of Honolulu while the police tried to stop her.
For about 30 minutes Tyke stayed loose as people attempted to get out of her way. Since there was no safe method of capturing the elephant the police eventually concluded that she had to be killed.
Tyke was fired at 87 times before she eventually collapsed from severe blood loss and other serious injuries and her death became one of the most widely discussed incidents involving a circus animal in the world.
As a result, legal action was taken by Honolulu, the state of Hawaii, Circus International, and the Hawthorn Corporation, the cases finally being settled without going to court.
Tyke’s story was also adopted as a strong symbol by advocates for animal rights. The inquiries carried out into the treatment of circus animals led to increased attention being given to the conditions in which elephants and other wild animals were kept.
In 2004 Hawthorn Corporation was found guilty of having violated the Animal Welfare Act and was therefore required to send its elephants to approved facilities together with paying a fine of $200,000; the company was finally closed down in 2017.
The film Tyke: Elephant Outlaw from 2015 drew even more attention to her life and death, and Hawaii subsequently passed legislation which banned the importation of wild animals for use in circuses.
Elephants usually do not attack unless there is a cause, and they can become very dangerous when they are frightened, under stress or trapped. The case of Tyke serves as a reminder that wild animals can never truly be under the control of a circus, even if they seem well trained.
